Wedding Planning Thread

[canaan]

think about all of the photoshop time thats gonna be needed to make you look not-so-shreky--quite the bargain, i'd say.

[mac5155]

think about all of the photoshop time thats gonna be needed to make you look not-so-shreky--quite the bargain, i'd say.

yeah, wouldn't want to show up my STB wife

[no name]

My wife did everything, i only picked out the weddding date, She was going through all the Sundays that the church and Hall were availible and she said this date and that day, then she said Oct. 5th then the next one, i said wait, Oct 5th thats the day... She paused and said are you sure, i said yes thats the day.

I am sure most Penguins fans would know why that day is special.

[BadHands71]

My wife did everything, i only picked out the weddding date, She was going through all the Sundays that the church and Hall were availible and she said this date and that day, then she said Oct. 5th then the next one, i said wait, Oct 5th thats the day... She paused and said are you sure, i said yes thats the day.

I am sure most Penguins fans would know why that day is special.

I approve.

[mac5155]

What should we do for a non denominational / spiritual ceremony?

We just wantsta get murried!

[mac5155]

What did everyone who just recently got married pay for a photographer?

I've had mostly the same figure from all of my photogs I've inquired about. One was published in sports illustrated. the other practices out of her basement. I don't know what to do

[Rylan]

Just hire Jennifer Lopez.

[Hockeynut!]

What did everyone who just recently got married pay for a photographer?

I've had mostly the same figure from all of my photogs I've inquired about. One was published in sports illustrated. the other practices out of her basement. I don't know what to do

What do you want from the photographer? That's going to depend on what the cost is. You can find someone on craigslist who will shoot your wedding and give you a disc of the unedited pics for $500. Or, you can go with a seasoned professional who has multiple cameras, lights, a second shooter and will give you a beautiful, custom designed album, parent albums, etc. for over $10K.

Just FYI, everyone thinks wedding photography is big money. I don't do it any more - just too boring and stressful - but there are a lot of costs involved in being a legit wedding photographer. You need at least $1M in liability insurance. You need gear that's going to cost around $15-$20K because you need backups for everything. You need to pay a second shooter (most good ones get at least $500 a day).

Photographers can easily pay $500 to $2000 to have a wedding album printed depending on what company they use. A good photographer is going to spend at least 10 hours shooting your wedding and another 30 hours in editing the images and prep and post work pertaining to your wedding. Then you have things like gear depreciation, insurance fees and other business related expenses. And that's not including taxes, of course.

There are a ton of weekend warriors out there that just bought a Rebel and zoom lens and realize they can make $500-$1000 a weekend shooting weddings. They can make good money because they spend nothing on back up gear, have no business fees because they're doing everything under the table, etc. Some of them are pretty good too.

It just depends on what you want and who you think you can trust.

[canaan]

What did everyone who just recently got married pay for a photographer?

I've had mostly the same figure from all of my photogs I've inquired about. One was published in sports illustrated. the other practices out of her basement. I don't know what to do

ours was the wife's uncle--did it as our gift--clutch.

[mac5155]

http://elizabethvincentphotography.com/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is who she wants to go with. They have flawless 5.0/5.0 ratings on weddingwire.com, and over 30 of them to boot.

PACKAGE II $4,200
One photographer up to Ten hours to photograph preceremony, ceremony,
- portraits and reception
-Second Photographer for up to Five Hours to photograph Preceremony
and Ceremony
-Private online gallery
-DVD with high resolution images for personal use
- Online Slideshow of wedding images to music
-Complimentary Engagement portrait session

The only thing that strikes me is the lack of a photo book and parent albums. Those can be added, but at a cost of $1200 (30 page) and $350 (30 page) respectively.

Should I worry about that? or once I have the raw images, order my own photobook?

[beerman]

What did everyone who just recently got married pay for a photographer?

I've had mostly the same figure from all of my photogs I've inquired about. One was published in sports illustrated. the other practices out of her basement. I don't know what to do

1,600-1,700 something like that, it included engagement pics, a wedding album and a cd with printing rights to all our photos after the wedding (the edited versions not just raw files slapped on a disc). Includes a second photographer (the ladies husband) as well. The quality of all the samples we looked at and the engagement pics we had taken were really great.

[npv708]

We had our wedding reception at the Fez in beaver county. It was nice.

So did we. We really liked it there, not to mention it was relatively cheap.

[mac5155]

What did everyone who just recently got married pay for a photographer?

I've had mostly the same figure from all of my photogs I've inquired about. One was published in sports illustrated. the other practices out of her basement. I don't know what to do

1,600-1,700 something like that, it included engagement pics, a wedding album and a cd with printing rights to all our photos after the wedding (the edited versions not just raw files slapped on a disc). Includes a second photographer (the ladies husband) as well. The quality of all the samples we looked at and the engagement pics we had taken were really great.

damn, thats a good price. I think I am attracted to the higher-priced ones.

[Hockeynut!]

This is who she wants to go with. They have flawless 5.0/5.0 ratings on weddingwire.com, and over 30 of them to boot.

That definitely seems like a fair price for the quality of work (I checked out the site, she's top notch). Whether you want an album is purely up to you. I shot around 80 weddings. Maybe 30 of them bought albums. A lot of clients just don't think they need "the album" whereas it's a huge tradition in some families. Since you have reprint rights to the images, you could always make your own coffee table book on blurb or something like that. The album prices you listed sound fair. Albums (thick pages, printed on actual photo paper, not press printed books) are expensive, even the photographers' cost.

[mac5155]

Yeah, she told me basically she charges for her time setting up the album and shipping costs. She doesn't make any money off the "album" itself.

Additionally thats a husband / wife duo that would be shooting it for us. I was wondering where a good place was to get an album. I will check out this blurb site.

[Hockeynut!]

Mpix.com also does press books. They might do "albums" too but I don't know what the quality is like. I think Black River Imaging sells to consumers as well. Most album companies only deal with legit businesses, not wedding clients, so most of the best options won't be available to you.

Also, don't dismiss a photographer who works out of their home. A wedding photographer has no real need for a studio so why drop $750-$2500 a month on rent/utilities for a storefront? With so many weekend warriors entering the photography business, the days of brick and mortar studios are rapidly coming to an end as there isn't enough money in it to support owning or renting a studio. I do very little indoor shooting, but when I do I use my basement which I converted into a studio last year.

I just don't show people the pit right away.

[mac5155]

Why cant photographers just tell me roughly their prices? I dont have time to drive 40 miles to meet with you on the rare day me and the fiancee are available to do so. Every one wants to meet with me. Give me a rough estimate of packages or do it over the phone. If I'm contacting you that means I'm already interested. You dont need to sell me anything but a good price.

[Hockeynut!]

Why cant photographers just tell me roughly their prices? I dont have time to drive 40 miles to meet with you on the rare day me and the fiancee are available to do so. Every one wants to meet with me. Give me a rough estimate of packages or do it over the phone. If I'm contacting you that means I'm already interested. You dont need to sell me anything but a good price.

Yeah, that was something that always annoyed me too. It's just a sales technique. They want to get you in person and then upsell you on emotion. Tongs of photographers do it. It's a PITA for prospective clients though so I never did it. I looked at it differently - I was pretty expensive and I didn't want to waste my time meeting with clients looking for a $1K deal so I always provided my prices before it ever got to the meeting stage.

[mac5155]

Why cant photographers just tell me roughly their prices? I dont have time to drive 40 miles to meet with you on the rare day me and the fiancee are available to do so. Every one wants to meet with me. Give me a rough estimate of packages or do it over the phone. If I'm contacting you that means I'm already interested. You dont need to sell me anything but a good price.

Yeah, that was something that always annoyed me too. It's just a sales technique. They want to get you in person and then upsell you on emotion. Tongs of photographers do it. It's a PITA for prospective clients though so I never did it. I looked at it differently - I was pretty expensive and I didn't want to waste my time meeting with clients looking for a $1K deal so I always provided my prices before it ever got to the meeting stage.

That's precisely it. The next time this guy is available is the 8th of February. He's a 55 mile drive one way from home. And I don't even know what his prices are. I'm about to call and tell him no thanks and just go with the other lady who answers my emails within 5 minutes of sending them and provided me an extremely detailed price list. She seems to be more personable anyway, where this guy seems to be in the business of churning out clients. He tells me not to contact him via email, but when I call him he's always meeting with a client or something.I fear if I wait until the 8th and dont like his prices, the other one I want won't be available.

[canaan]

blurb.com is pretty killer. ive used them before.

[mac5155]

blurb.com is pretty killer. ive used them before.

definitely. I've been checking it out the past 2 days and it looks sweet. hopefully its still around in a year but I don't think it's going anywhere.

[mac5155]

No packages or price lists. What does this guy expect? I'm about to tell him to F off.

[Hockeynut!]

Ask him if he'd consider doing he meeting via Skype. If not, just explain that your free time is too limited to meet in person, especially with that kind of travel. To be honest, it sounds like he has all the work he needs/can handle so he probably doesn't care if you book him or not.

[mac5155]

Ask him if he'd consider doing he meeting via Skype. If not, just explain that your free time is too limited to meet in person, especially with that kind of travel. To be honest, it sounds like he has all the work he needs/can handle so he probably doesn't care if you book him or not.

I have a feeling i'm just going to call and cancel. The other person is much better at communication. I can only imagine how crazy things get with him the week after the wedding. He said he already has 2 other weddings on our day.

[Hockeynut!]

Ask him if he'd consider doing he meeting via Skype. If not, just explain that your free time is too limited to meet in person, especially with that kind of travel. To be honest, it sounds like he has all the work he needs/can handle so he probably doesn't care if you book him or not.

I have a feeling i'm just going to call and cancel. The other person is much better at communication. I can only imagine how crazy things get with him the week after the wedding. He said he already has 2 other weddings on our day.

Oh, wow. I know a lot of photographers who run "wedding factories". The odds of there being issues are highly magnified. Is the other photographer the one you linked the other day? I don't know anything about her but from seeing her work and from what you've posted recently, I think you'd be making a solid choice.